It's said that an army travels on its stomach. That was never truer than for the Common Ground County Fair (CGCF). Morning, noon and night, the Common Kitchen is there to feed the hundreds of hungry, tired, dedicated volunteers, planning team and paid staff members who make CGCF happen.

From its beginning in the early ‘80s with Luhe McConnell’s legendary chilies through the French gourmet/ultra healthy era of Eric and Carol Hammond and Diana Prizio to the present crew of Joel Glatz, Patti Hamilton, Fred Homan, Tim Johnson, Tom Kemp, Devon Salisbury, and Bill Whitman, the Common Kitchen fed and feeds volunteers and staff from setup through breakdown, 24 hours a day (sometimes 25, or at least it seems that way).

The kitchen accomplishes this with hard working, creative volunteer cooks and the generosity of a multiplicity of certified organic farmers, natural food stores, food vendors, businesses, individuals and international corporations. Also, since CGCF is a fundraiser for MOFGA, we like to spend as little as possible. In 2012, we fed volunteers and staff for about 75 cents each due to the extreme generosity of our farmer, business and individual donors. This year, we'll be cutting expenses again and probably feeding more volunteers.

We always like to expand the variety of things we serve in order to accommodate more dietary habits and to make eating at the kitchen a more interesting and educational experience. The kitchen serves meat based, vegetarian and vegan dishes at every meal. If you would like to join this list of contributors and have your name or business name seen by 60,000+ people at the Fair plus another 7,000 or so in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener newspaper and by who knows how many at www.mofga.org, please contact us with your donation. Our cooks are the best and turn almost any organic food into a mouthwatering meal. No amount is too large or too small, although if you can deliver it to the fairground, that's a plus. Cash is also gratefully accepted.